1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a product discharging device.
2. Related Art
In the related art, in a vending machine vending product such as canned beverage or beverage in a plastic bottle, a product storage rack is disposed in a product storage in a main cabinet which is a main body of the vending machine. The product storage rack includes a product storage passage that extends in a vertical direction and a product discharging device that is disposed in a lower part of the product storage passage.
The product discharging device includes a lower pedal and an upper pedal. The lower pedal and the upper pedal are linked to an AC solenoid as an actuator via a link and move forward to and backward from a product storage passage by supplying power to the AC solenoid.
In the product discharging device, in a standby state, the upper pedal moves backward from the product storage passage, and the lower pedal moves forward to the product storage passage. Accordingly, the lower pedal comes in contact with a lowest product stored in the product storage passage to regulate downward movement of product stored in the product storage passage.
In the product discharging device in a lower part of the product storage passage storing the corresponding product, when a product discharge command is issued, the upper pedal moves forward to the product storage passage via the link by supplying power to the AC solenoid, and comes in contact with a second lowest product to regulate downward movement of the product and the products stored above the product. By supplying power to the AC solenoid, the lower pedal moves backward from the product storage passage, only the lowest product is discharged downward, and the lower pedal moves forward to the product storage passage by a biasing force of a spring when the lowest product gets out of the lower pedal. Thereafter, when the supply of power to the AC solenoid is stopped and the AC solenoid is switched to a non-powered state, the backward movement of the lower pedal having moved forward to the product storage passage is regulated and the upper pedal moves backward from the product storage passage, whereby the product discharging device is returned to the standby state (for example, see Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2001-188953).
In the product discharging device proposed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2001-188953, since the AC solenoid is used as the actuator, the following problems are caused. That is, when the supply of power is intercepted due to power outage or the like while the link is moving upward and the upper pedal is moving forward to the product storage passage, that is, while the upper pedal is moving forward, by supplying power to the AC solenoid, the AC solenoid is switched to the non-powered state. Accordingly, the link moves downward and the upper pedal moves backward. There is a possibility that plural products will be discharged until the link completely moves downward, that is, until the lower pedal moves forward to the product storage passage and the backward movement thereof is regulated.
There is a need for a product discharging device that can suppress discharging of plural products when supply of power is intercepted due to power outage or the like during discharge of a product.